by: Oscar Bruce
Sometimes a dream needs a little help. Even in our social and business relations, the race is not to the swift, but to the verbal - the spellbinding orator - the silver-tongued seducer.
As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world, for you and I belong to a species with a remarkable ability. That ability is language - Man's most important cultural invention. With nothing but words, we can reliably cause new ideas to arise in each other's minds. Hypnosis has proven that mere words can deeply influence behavior and perception.
Language is a bit like an artist's palette. If he has only two or three splotches of color from which to choose, his painting may be colorless and/or confusing. And so it is with a vocabulary that has limited words for painting the stories of one's past or future. They are colorless and uninteresting; they lack excitement or persuasion.
Take, for example, the less fortunate hapless worker. He probably has lofty dreams. But those dreams are trapped inside his head because No dream or ambition can be told without being couched in words. Limited words mean limited expression. Limited language skills mean limited opportunity. These limitations block efforts to raise him above the worker class. His struggle to upgrade his circumstances collapse at the point his language skills fail to support his aspirations.
BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT YOU...
Does your cocktail party repartee come across as sophisticated conversation, or a confused meandering string of meaningless babble? Whether you like it or not, your conversation as well as your language skills tell the world about your background, and even your intelligence.
In a study which polled top executives in fifty-eight of America's largest companies, every single executive named personal communications skills as the major factor in their advancement.
You may feel you are stuck with your current education or intrinsic intelligence. While that may be partially true, you are not stuck with your current verbal and conversation skills.
Remember...The race is not to the swift, but to the verbal - the spellbinding orator - the silver-tongued seducer. You learn the skills in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. It's largely a matter of making that decision and commitment.